By Spy Uganda Correspondent
Rwandan President Paul Kagame has warned his counterpart in HE. Felix Tshisekedi about the possible involvement of foreign mercenaries in the current conflict in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and said if these reports were confirmed, the neighboring country is likely moving towards “chaos”.
Speaking while presiding over the swearing-in of the new President of the Rwandan Senate in Kigali, the Rwandan President said Rwanda will not accept to bear the burden for the DRC’s responsibilities.
“The reason this situation prevails is because the DRC is unwilling or unable to govern its territory. The usual problem we have currently in our neighborhood which keeps bringing up Rwanda’s name in all sources of ways (…) I am refusing that Rwanda should carry this burden,” Kagame said.
When a situation is relying on mercenaries, according to Kagame, the situation is a mess.
“When it comes to Rwanda to deal with mercenaries, we are overstock to deal with these useless people,” he said.
Kigali has repeatedly blamed Kinshasa for the ongoing crisis and accused the international community of turning a blind eye to DR Congo’s alleged support for the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a mainly Rwandan rebel movement implicated in the 1994 genocide of Tutsis.
Kigali sees the FDLR as a threat which justifies incursions into the DRC.
Rwanda has also accused the DRC — where presidential elections are due next December — of using the conflict for political purposes as well as of “fabricating” a November massacre of at least 131 civilians.
A UN probe blamed the deaths on M23 rebels.
A tentative ceasefire and the deployment of Kenyan forces through the East African Community (EAC) have so far failed to halt the bloodshed.
